The rate at which people post flu-related tweets could become a powerful tool in the battle to spot epidemics earlier, say computer scientists.
Twitter could make money by replaying TV content people tweet about, with ads.
As it plans for its first stock offering, how will Twitter make more money? One idea was revealed this morning at EmTech, MIT Technology Review’s annual conference on emerging technologies, during a talk by Deb Roy, Twitter’s chief media scientist. His MIT spinout company, Bluefin Labs (see “A Social Media Decoder”), was bought by Twitter this year.
]]>Twitter could make money by replaying TV content people tweet about, with ads.
As it plans for its first stock offering, how will Twitter make more money? One idea was revealed this morning at EmTech, MIT Technology Review’s annual conference on emerging technologies, during a talk by Deb Roy, Twitter’s chief media scientist. His MIT spinout company, Bluefin Labs (see “A Social Media Decoder”), was bought by Twitter this year.
]]>Language site Duolingo will let volunteers build courses for languages like Arabic, Russian, and even Dothraki.
Since last year, Duolingo has offered free online lessons in a smattering of languages—currently, just six of them, including English, Spanish, and French—through which users learn while translating texts on the Web. The company often gets requests for more languages, but it’s time-consuming and costly to add each new one, and many of the ones users want won’t bring in much revenue, which comes from companies paying Duolingo for its text-translation services.
]]>Language-learning site Duolingo will let volunteers build courses for languages like Arabic, Russian, and even Dothraki.
Since last year, Duolingo has offered free online lessons in a smattering of languages—currently, just six of them, including English, Spanish, and French—through which users learn while also translating texts on the Web. The company often gets requests for more languages, but it’s time-consuming and costly to add each new one, and many of the ones users want won’t bring in much revenue, which comes from companies paying Duolingo for its text-translation services.
]]>The rate at which people post flu-related tweets could become a powerful tool in the battle to spot epidemics earlier, say computer scientists.
Stay tuned...HR will send information about testing, training and the implementation date. You can also find updates in the Electronic Timesheet Group within myUMBC (http://my.umbc.edu/groups/ets). Follow the group and remain informed on our progress.
The following is a guest post by Kevin Leary. I was pretty stoked to get this guest post submission from Kevin because it's my favorite kind of tutorial: practical and detailed.
Almost every custom theme I develop with WordPress requires a Management Team or Meet the Team page. If I had to guess, I'd say that I've built just around 50 different setups. It occurred to me that their must be many other WordPress developers out there creating similar systems as well. For this reason, I'll share the approach I typically use to build and manage a "Meet The Team" page in WordPress.
For those of you that just want the final product, check out the PHP Class on Github or see an example.
Creating and managing a team page like this in WordPress involves the following combination of tools:
team)department)Using these tools, let's walk through the process of creating a Meet Our Team template for a custom WordPress theme.
Before we begin, I should clarify a few things. In the Github example for this tutorial I'm using an object oriented approach, and have stored my code in a separate .php file that I typically include in a theme's functions.php file.
For the sake of clarity, I'll be describing the process step by step procedurally and will refer to setting this up inside of your functions.php instead.
The first step is to register a new post type (e.g. team). You can also register a taxonomy (e.g. department) if filtering or categorization is required.
This post type will add a new Team Profiles menu to the WordPress admin, separating all team posts from Posts and Pages for easier content management.
The taxonomy will add a custom category to the team posts, allowing you to filter or categorize your team. I find that this is appropriate when you have a team that is more than ten people. It's often handy for filtering staff members by office location or department.
/**
* Register `team` post type
*/
function team_post_type() {
// Labels
$labels = array(
'name' => _x("Team", "post type general name"),
'singular_name' => _x("Team", "post type singular name"),
'menu_name' => 'Team Profiles',
'add_new' => _x("Add New", "team item"),
'add_new_item' => __("Add New Profile"),
'edit_item' => __("Edit Profile"),
'new_item' => __("New Profile"),
'view_item' => __("View Profile"),
'search_items' => __("Search Profiles"),
'not_found' => __("No Profiles Found"),
'not_found_in_trash' => __("No Profiles Found in Trash"),
'parent_item_colon' => ''
);
// Register post type
register_post_type('team' , array(
'labels' => $labels,
'public' => true,
'has_archive' => false,
'menu_icon' => get_stylesheet_directory_uri() . '/lib/TeamProfiles/team-icon.png',
'rewrite' => false,
'supports' => array('title', 'editor', 'thumbnail')
) );
}
add_action( 'init', 'team_post_type', 0 );/**
* Register `department` taxonomy
*/
function team_taxonomy() {
// Labels
$singular = 'Department';
$plural = 'Departments';
$labels = array(
'name' => _x( $plural, "taxonomy general name"),
'singular_name' => _x( $singular, "taxonomy singular name"),
'search_items' => __("Search $singular"),
'all_items' => __("All $singular"),
'parent_item' => __("Parent $singular"),
'parent_item_colon' => __("Parent $singular:"),
'edit_item' => __("Edit $singular"),
'update_item' => __("Update $singular"),
'add_new_item' => __("Add New $singular"),
'new_item_name' => __("New $singular Name"),
);
// Register and attach to 'team' post type
register_taxonomy( strtolower($singular), 'team', array(
'public' => true,
'show_ui' => true,
'show_in_nav_menus' => true,
'hierarchical' => true,
'query_var' => true,
'rewrite' => false,
'labels' => $labels
) );
}
add_action( 'init', 'team_taxonomy', 0 );department taxonomy for anything. I've included it in the tutorial because it's useful to understand that it can be used to filter team members.Now that we have a new *Team Profiles* menu in WordPress, we need to customize the data that we store with each team post. In my experience most team profiles have the following fields:
To manage this content, I like to customize the Add New and Edit UI for the team post type, allowing site admins and authors to intuitively update this information without training.
My tool of choice for creating custom field meta box UIs is currently the Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) plugin.
To create this meta box you'll need to install the ACF plugin, creating your fields under the Custom Fields admin menu. Below is a look at the fields and settings I've used for this tutorial.
If you're lazy like me, you can import my XML export file to automate the field creation process. Here's how:
.xml fileThe ACF plugin stores its data inside of a custom post type, so the standard WordPress XML import tool can be used. Quite a smart move by the plugin author, Elliot Condon.
In my PHP Class I've added an admin notice that will prompt you to install the ACF plugin if you haven't already. This provides a nice reminder that you need it to get the team post type working properly.
Now that we have our Team management system setup, we'll need to output our team profiles somewhere on the site. To do this, I usually create a custom theme template (e.g. template-team.php) that alters the view for a specific WordPress page. View the docs on WordPress.org for details about custom templates.
To output our team posts inside of our custom template, we'll use the following code.
<?php
/**
* Template Name: Team
*/
the_post();
// Get 'team' posts
$team_posts = get_posts( array(
'post_type' => 'team',
'posts_per_page' => -1, // Unlimited posts
'orderby' => 'title', // Order alphabetically by name
) );
if ( $team_posts ):
?>
<section class="row profiles">
<div class="intro">
<h2>Meet The Team</h2>
<p class="lead">“Individuals can and do make a difference, but it takes a team<br>to really mess things up.”</p>
</div>
<?php
foreach ( $team_posts as $post ):
setup_postdata($post);
// Resize and CDNize thumbnails using Automattic Photon service
$thumb_src = null;
if ( has_post_thumbnail($post->ID) ) {
$src = wp_get_attachment_image_src( get_post_thumbnail_id( $post->ID ), 'team-thumb' );
$thumb_src = $src[0];
}
?>
<article class="col-sm-6 profile">
<div class="profile-header">
<?php if ( $thumb_src ): ?>
<img src="<?php echo $thumb_src; ?>" alt="<?php the_title(); ?>, <?php the_field('team_position'); ?>" class="img-circle">
<?php endif; ?>
</div>
<div class="profile-content">
<h3><?php the_title(); ?></h3>
<p class="lead position"><?php the_field('team_position'); ?></p>
<?php the_content(); ?>
</div>
<div class="profile-footer">
<a href="tel:<?php the_field('team_phone'); ?>"><i class="icon-mobile-phone"></i></a>
<a href="mailto:<?php echo antispambot( get_field('team_email') ); ?>"><i class="icon-envelope"></i></a>
<?php if ( $twitter = get_field('team_twitter') ): ?>
<a href="<?php echo $twitter; ?>"><i class="icon-twitter"></i></a>
<?php endif; ?>
<?php if ( $linkedin = get_field('team_linkedin') ): ?>
<a href="<?php echo $linkedin; ?>"><i class="icon-linkedin"></i></a>
<?php endif; ?>
</div>
</article><!-- /.profile -->
<?php endforeach; ?>
</section><!-- /.row -->
<?php endif; ?>To get a loop of our team posts, I've used the get_posts function. Its simple, easy to use and efficient. I've used the following arguments to target and organize the query results:
'post_type' => 'team' will only query team posts'posts_per_page' => 50 will return all of our team profiles, assuming you have less than 50. If you plan to have more adjust this accordingly.'orderby' => 'title' will order the results by name'order' =>; 'ASC' will start the order alphabeticallyOnce we have our query object, we loop through each team post, outputting data and content into our HTML structure.
The get_field and the_field functions are built-in to the ACF plugin. These are probably the two most commons functions that you will find yourself using when working with it. They output the value of a given custom field.
Once we have the loop complete, we can create a new Page in WordPress, selecting Team from the custom templates dropdown. When you view this page, you should see a list of your team's profiles.
Without any caching, this bit of code adds a whopping 26 queries to the page. If you have a high volume site, it's a requirement that you leverage the Transients API to cache the output of an intensive custom query like this. I've included a static display() method in my PHP Class that handles the transient caching.
if ( $team_profiles = TeamProfiles::display() )
echo $team_profiles;The display() method uses output buffering and transient caching to store and cache the HTML generated by our team loop.
Using this approach instead of our previous loop reduces the number of queries to 1, saving us 25 hits to the database. This also reduces the initial page load by 400-500ms. Not bad!
Now that we have our team page management system in place and our HTML structure output, we need to add some style to our new template.
To include a stylesheet for our custom template only (template-team.php), we can use the following conditional check.
/**
* Load CSS for template-team.php
*/
function team_styles() {
if ( is_page_template('template-team.php') )
wp_enqueue_style( 'team-template', get_stylesheet_directory_uri() . '/assets/css/team.css' );
}
add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'team_styles', 101 );This will enqueue a CSS file (/assets/css/team.css) when template-team.php is in use. Using this method helps to keep your core stylesheet lean.
Here are the styles I've used for the example that accompanies this tutorial:
/* ==============================================
Team profiles
============================================== */
.profiles {
margin-bottom: -20px;
}
.intro {
padding-left: 140px;
}
.intro h2 {
margin: 0 0 7px;
}
.intro .lead {
line-height: 120%;
font-size: 1.1em;
font-style: italic;
margin: 0 0 35px;
}
.profile {
position: relative;
margin: 0 0 20px;
}
.profile:nth-child(even) {
clear: left;
}
.profile-header {
position: absolute;
top: 0;
}
.profile-header img {
float: left;
}
.profile-content {
font-size: 14px;
padding: 27px 20px 0 0;
line-height: 1.4em;
margin: 0 0 0 125px;
}
.profile-content h3 {
margin: 0;
}
.profile-content .lead {
font-size: 1.3em;
line-height: 100%;
font-style: italic;
margin: 3px 0 20px;
}
.profile-content:before {
content: '';
width: 36px;
height: 3px;
background: #dededc;
position: absolute;
top: 0;
}
.profile-content p {
margin: 0 0 10px;
}
.profile-footer {
position: absolute;
top: 121px;
width: 100px;
text-align: center;
}
.profile-footer a {
line-height: 18px;
margin: 0 3px;
display: inline-block;
}
.profile-footer a:hover i {
color: #595959;
}
.profile-footer a:active i {
color: #000;
}
.profile-footer i {
font-size: 18px;
position: relative;
}
.profile-footer i.icon-envelope {
font-size: 16px;
top: -1px;
}
.profile-footer i.icon-linkedin {
font-size: 16px;
top: -1px;
}In my project workflow I use LESS to pre-process my CSS. If you use would like to use LESS in your project, below is the CSS in LESS format.
/* ==================================================
Team profiles
================================================== */
// Mixins
.border-radius(@radius) {
-webkit-border-radius: @radius;
-moz-border-radius: @radius;
border-radius: @radius;
}
// Global
.profiles {
margin-bottom: -20px; // Offset adjustment
}
.intro {
padding-left: 140px;
h2 {
margin: 0 0 7px;
}
.lead {
line-height: 120%;
font-size: 1.1em;
font-style: italic;
margin: 0 0 35px;
}
}
.profile {
position: relative;
margin: 0 0 20px;
&:nth-child(even) {
clear: left;
}
}
// Header
.profile-header {
position: absolute;
top: 0;
img {
float: left;
}
}
// Content
.profile-content {
font-size: 14px;
padding: 27px 20px 0 0;
line-height: 1.4em;
margin: 0 0 0 125px;
h3 {
margin: 0;
}
.lead {
font-size: 1.3em;
line-height: 100%;
font-style: italic;
margin: 3px 0 20px;
}
// Top separator
&:before {
content: '';
width: 36px;
height: 3px;
background: #dededc;
position: absolute;
top: 0;
}
p {
margin: 0 0 10px;
}
}
// Footer
.profile-footer {
position: absolute;
top: 121px;
width: 100px;
text-align: center;
a {
line-height: 18px;
margin: 0 3px;
display: inline-block;
}
a:hover i { color: #595959; }
a:active i { color: #000; }
i {
font-size: 18px;
position: relative;
}
i.icon-envelope {
font-size: 16px;
top: -1px;
}
i.icon-linkedin {
font-size: 16px;
top: -1px;
}
}Thanks for reading, I hope this tutorial gives you a solid understanding of how to create a team bio/meet the team/team profile management system in WordPress. If you understand the underlying concepts explained in this article, you should now have a valuable new approach to managing custom content in WordPress.
Custom post types, taxonomies, and meta box managed custom fields provide a powerful approach to managing many complex WordPress CMS scenarios.
Creating a “Meet The Team” Page in WordPress is a post from CSS-Tricks
]]>
“Let there be light” could very well be the mantra for a very talented artistic trio known as (fos).
Eleni Karpatsi, Susana Piquer and Julio Calvo make up this multidisciplinary team with interest in architecture, interior design, art direction and graphic design.
Their first ephemeral installation by the same name, (fos), is “a visual game between perspective and colored volumes.”
Outside Raven, a vegan eatery in Madrid, these exceptional creatives used yellow tape, painted décor items, pineapples and a lamp to create the appearance of an illuminated property that covers both vertical and horizontal surfaces.
Reminiscent of Van Gogh’s famous Café Terrace on the Place du Forum, Arles, at Night, the installation calls to mind the current trend for the flat aesthetic.
Does the flat aesthetic lend itself to anything but web sites? Would this installation entice you into the café? Let us know in the comments.
| eBook: “The Found a Business Book” (startup success stories) – only $9! |  |
    
|
Contact: Ben Souder
Email: bensouder@targetgov.com
Phone: 443-543-5067
For Immediate Release:
Local Businesswoman Gloria Larkin Testifying Before the Congressional Small Business Committee on October 10, 2013
TargetGov President Gloria Larkin discusses how small business success is affected by federal contract bundling and consolidation at the House Small Business Committee Meeting October 10, 2013 in Washington D.C.
Baltimore, MD – October 9, 2013 – Gloria Larkin, President of TargetGov, is testifying before the Congressional Small Business Committee as the Vice Chair of the Educational Foundation for Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP). She will discuss how contract bundling and consolidation remain roadblocks to the success of small businesses nationwide.
According to Gloria Larkin, federal contracting subject matter expert and Vice-Chair of WIPP’s Educational Foundation Board, bundling and consolidation hampers small businesses in the federal marketplace by increasing direct costs for bonding, proposal capture process, sales and business development activities, legal fees, accounting fees and project management fees and reducing competition.
“Testifying before Congress at this time on such an important business issue that impacts small businesses nationwide is an honor and responsibility” said Larkin. “This is the world’s fortune one customer; in fiscal year 2012, small firms received $89.9 billion in contracts from the federal government. That put hundreds of thousands of people to work right here in the U.S. providing services and products. While I would rather spend the time on my business right now, taking this time to be heard by our legislators so that they truly understand what would help small business grow business in the federal marketplace is critical to our economy.”
WIPP and Mrs. Larkin have outlined the following three recommendations that would help small business in the federal marketplace: 1. Improve the collection of data from agencies to directly measure the effect of bundling and consolidation on small business; 2. Complete the regulatory actions required in the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2013 and the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, and 3. Increase outreach to small business vendors regarding the consolidation and bundling process.
About Gloria Larkin:
Gloria Larkin, National Marketing and Business Expert, is President of TargetGov. Larkin has been interviewed on MSNBC, quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and TheStreet.com. She is an expert author with articles regarding federal business development published in local, regional, national and international publications. She is also the author of two books: “The Basic Guide To Government Contracting” (book & Kindle) and “The Veterans Business Guide: How to Build a Successful Government Contracting Business” now in the fourth printing (book & Kindle). TargetGov clients have won federal contracts worth billions of dollars and the company focuses on government procurement and related business development and marketing services including minority certification services, contract development, proposal management, contract administration and expert federal contracting services. For more information visit www.targetgov.com.
###
This Press Release was distributed by TargetGov.
If you received this email by mistake or do not wish to receive TargetGov Press Releases in the future please reply to this message and we will remove you from the list immediately.
Ben Souder
Communications Specialist
TargetGov At Marketing Outsource Associates, Inc.
Phone: 443-543-5067
www.targetgov.com
bensouder@targetgov.com